There are a number of types of packages for sutures and combined surgical needle-suture devices known in the art. Generally, such a package should be constructed to adequately secure a needle and suture while allowing easy withdrawal during use. It also is preferable to design and construct the package in accordance with its intended application. For example, suture packages must often accommodate suture material of high quality generally having a surgical needle at one end, all in a readily dispensable fashion so as to have optimum handling characteristics. Cardiovascular sutures are generally “double armed”, that is a needle is provided at each end of the suture, which presents still additional packaging difficulties. Moreover, in cardiovascular applications differently colored sutures are used for identification purposes.
Generally, the needle-suture devices of a cardiovascular suture package must be secured in spaced relation such that during a critical procedure such as a bypass operation, the surgeon can readily grasp the needle with his forceps or other means known in the art and quickly remove the suture from the package without difficulty. Because of the size of typical prior art suture packages, the scrub nurse typically holds the suture package away from the surgical or sterile field so as to avoid interfering with the surgeon's view of the surgical field. As a consequence, the scrub nurse usually has to remove a needle with the suture and hand it over to the surgeon and thus effectively increasing the time required to perform the procedure.
A customary practice in cardiovascular surgery also is to attach a pledget to the center of the suture. In such applications, a pledget is a small pad or cushion used to distribute the force of the sterile suture over a greater area of tissue to prevent cutting the relatively delicate tissue with the fine denier suture. In cardiovascular surgery one typical pledget is formed of PTFE felt.
Thus, a suture package for such cardiovascular sutures also is constructed in a manner which stores the sterile suture with both needles, as well as the pledget. Additionally, the package is constructed to be opened and the needle-suture-pledget device removed without entanglement of the pledget with the suture or the suture upon itself.
It thus would be desirable to provide a new package for suture/needle combinations as well as for any of a number of medical devices including a rigid member interconnected to a flexible member that would allow the package to be located more proximal to the surgical field as compared to prior art packages as well as a suture kit employing such a package and methods related thereto. It is particularly desirable to provide such a package for medical devices in general and more specifically suture/needle combinations that would be smaller in overall dimension when in the stored configuration as compared to prior art packages and kits.
It also is desirable to provide a package that can be reconfigured from the stored configuration to create a handle that a user may grasp or hold while withdrawing the contents of the package. More particularly, to create a handle so that the grasping or holding by the user does not impede withdrawal of the package's contents. When so reconfigured, the package also is configured so as to provide good access to, the medical device rigid member, for example a needle that is attached to a suture, so that the rigid member can be easily grasped by the user for its withdrawal from the package. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a package that is simple in construction and more user friendly as compared to prior art devices while assuring that sutures and pledgets or other medical devices can be removed therefrom without becoming entangled when being removed from the packaging.